


Family

by heartsdesire456



Series: Coulson Family Fics [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Ending, Episode Related, Episode: s01e11 The Magical Place, M/M, Pheels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 10:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint had prepared for the day he had to drop in on Phil’s team for some reason many times, but he never planned on it going down on such a short notice. Or quite so literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> AU of s1e11: "The Magical Place" in which Skye has some help on her quest to track Coulson down and save him. 
> 
> Yes, this headcanon is absolutely what me, my friends, and even my mom (who barely even likes the show and knows zero things about 'fandom' so shhhhhh) think is gonna come out sooner or later.

Clint had prepared for the day he had to drop in on Phil’s team for some reason many times, but he never planned on it going down on such a short notice. Or quite so literally.

Clint fell from the roof and landed next to Skye, who yelped and jerked around, punching him in the face for his trouble. He stumbled back a little and turned surprised eyes on her, licking his split lip. “Damn, that was pretty good,” he complimented and she just stared like he was crazy.

“Holy shit, who are you, you crazy person?!” she cried.

Clint cringed. “Okay, there’s no easy way to say this gently and quickly so I’ll just go with quickly: I need you to help me find and rescue my husband.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Of course a gorgeous man falls out of the sky at my feet and he’s _married_ ,” she said with an eye roll. “Thanks for tempting me with an ass that obviously wasn’t meant for my hands.”

Clint winced. “Ew, oh God, so wrong, I’m technically your _stepdad_ , why would you _say that_?!” he asked in horror, only to freeze when she snapped around and started him with wide, terrified yet hopeful eyes. “Ah shit, you didn’t know that part yet? Dammit!”

“You- you’re _what_?” she asked in a strained voice. “You know who my father is?”

Clint sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Skye,” he said, and she startled slightly. “My name is Clint Barton. I’m a SHIELD agent, too. I’m a level six so I’m not supposed to even know about you, but I’m married to a level eight and I have my own hacker friend to keep me up to date. I’m sorry this can’t be done more delicately, but right now my husband’s life depends on me and you because you’re the only one outside of that bitch’s control and I need you. May cut you loose because she knew I was in the area and would find you.”

Skye paled, shaking her head slowly. “No, he’s not-“

“Coulson is your biological father,” Clint said simply. “It’s a long story, I’m sorry, he didn’t know when you first joined them who you were, and I’ve only known about three weeks, but right now my husband is out there and you’re the only one who can help me find him. Tell me what you need and we can get him back and once he’s safe, I’ll answer anything, okay?”

She swallowed hard, but nodded. “Okay come with me,” she said, turning to head towards the computer on the desk behind her.

~

Clint was just getting ready to dispatch the Centipede soldiers he and Skye were facing off against when he heard a bloodcurdling scream and everything in his body went cold. Skye turned and sprinted off before he could even register that that was _Phil screaming_. He’d never heard Phil scream like that. He had never heard Phil scream. Phil didn’t ever cry out. Phil never even said ‘ow’ during any of the situations where they had been beaten and tortured before. He had never seen Phil Coulson break enough to even groan in pain before, and yet that was the sound of the toughest man he had ever known screaming in a way that would chill anyone to the bone.

Clint got into the room just in time to see Reyna’s lights knocked out by Skye when she dared get between Skye and Coulson. He dropped to secure her, fighting the instincts to go to his husband and going with his training to neutralize the threat. When he stood up, he could finally hear what Phil was saying – more like _whimpering_ \- and if it hadn’t already been hurting enough, his heart absolutely _shattered_.

“Please let me die, please, please let me die!” He stumbled over, fighting the urge to vomit just in time to see Melinda snatch the power supplies to the machine Phil was attached to out of the wall. 

“Coulson, come back,” Skye squeaked, pulling his hands into hers. Clint looked up at Melinda and saw the same fear in her eyes as in his, because he knew she knew just as well as he did that Phil had _never_ broken under torture. Whatever he had just been going through had to be beyond anything any one of them had ever come close to facing. 

Clint wanted to get to Phil’s side but he wasn’t about to push Skye away as she pressed her lips to Phil’s hand, tears streaming down her face when he noticed her and _smiled_ through all the pain he had to be in to whisper, “Skye.” Clint put a hand on her back, rubbing gently between her shoulder blades as she whimpered.

“May, we need medevac, _now_ ,” Clint said softly and she nodded, going to get Ward and radio in.

At the sound of his voice Phil’s eyes cleared some and he looked to Clint. “I remember you,” he breathed and Clint swallowed a wave of nausea and bit his lip hard to keep from talking.

“Yes, Sir. You were my SO-“

“No, Clint, I’m your husband,” he said weakly, blinking hard. “Oh God,” he breathed and Clint nodded, resting his hand on Phil’s side as he leaned closer to him.

“They didn’t know we were married so they forgot to put me back,” Clint said in a hoarse tone. Skye looked up with wide eyes and he smiled sadly. “The ‘Cellist’? It was a joke about my bow,” he explained but she didn’t seem to catch on. He chuckled. “I’m not just a SHIELD Agent, I’m Hawkeye,” he explained and she gaped.

“Holy crap, A.C. is married to an Avenger?!” she asked in a rush, but then looked back at Phil. “They didn’t know?”

Phil shook his head weakly, still clearly in a lot of pain. “They gave me memories of- of a woman. Even just before this, Reyna was taunting me about her- her crying over me.” He swallowed weakly. “There was no cellist. I’m not even attracted to women. But they made me forget it.”

Skye frowned. “Wait, what about Camilla Murder-Face?”

Phil smirked weakly. “Didn’t say I never was. Tastes shift over your lifetime.”

She hummed. “No joke, I used to think black leather was tacky but I’m really digging this jacket,” she said, smiling when Phil managed a soft chuckle. She looked up at Clint. “You knew he was missing but you’re not even supposed to know he’s alive, right?”

Phil looked at Clint, and he nodded and shrugged. “I’ve been suspicious for a while. For a few months now Stark’s been tracking suspicious information in and around SHIELD. Confirmation came when you showed up to dispose of the 0-8-4. To be ‘secretly alive’, SHIELD has you going around and showing your face all over the place, Phil.”

Phil eyed him closely. “You didn’t come after me?”

“I knew something was wrong when you didn’t contact me first,” Clint explained, stroking the knuckles of the hand he held. “I know you, Phil. If you didn’t contact me in spite of the orders, you weren’t okay. I’ve been watching you, though. Checking in on you. Even followed you around the Hub,” he admitted with a smirk. “They need to be more careful about their air vents.” Clint reached out and stroked a hand over Phil’s hair gently, smiling sadly when his eyelashes fluttered. “Stay awake, Phil. Just a little longer… and he’s out. Fuck,” Clint said, and Skye felt of his pulse and shrugged.

“He’s stable. Probably just exhaustion?” she tried and Clint nodded weakly, worrying his lip as he looked at Phil’s abused face.

May and Ward came back in just before Clint heard the blades of a helicopter coming closer. “ETA ninety seconds,” Ward said to Skye before finally looking Clint over. “Barton?” he asked in confusion. 

Clint saluted halfheartedly, still holding Phil’s hand. “Technically it’s ‘Coulson’,” he offered as explanation, and May raised an eyebrow. “What? I wanted to. I had no attachment to my last name and it wasn’t like anybody at SHIELD was gonna find out about it. We’ve both been at SHIELD for more than fifteen years so there was no reason for them to look into our civilian records. Besides, your middle name is Louise, you don’t get to judge.”

Ward just frowned. “Louise-“

“Don’t make me kill you,” May said and Clint smirked.

“And what do you mean, Barton? I got hit in the head way too many times fighting that juiced up guy out there-“

“Clint’s Coulson’s husband that SHIELD didn’t know about and apparently something’s happened that we don’t know about because his husband. Or that he’s gay. And they made him remember a woman he left behind or some BS,” Skye said and Clint nodded.

“I don’t know what they did, but they fucked with his memory.” He looked at May, who shook her head.

“I don’t know, Barton. Swear,” she said and he nodded.

“I know, May,” he said and then jerked upright when a med crew came in through the door. Clint circled the table and pulled Skye back, arm around her shoulders comfortingly as the crew loaded Coulson up to get him to medical.

~

Coulson had to stay overnight in medical, but Clint went back to the Bus with the others. FitzSimmons greeted him enthusiastically, proclaiming their undying admiration for him and telling him that they had seen him training before and thought he was the coolest before he’d left SHIELD to go to the Avengers. 

“It’s true, Simmons used to talk about your butt in your training outfit,” Fitz said and Jemma flushed and punched him in the arm.

“FITZ!” she cried in outrage and he just smirked as he rubbed his arm.

Clint smiled brightly, more than a little amused with the two baby agents. “Awww that’s so cute,” he said. “No don’t be embarrassed, I totally condone admiring physiques. Just don’t expect to end up like me and marry the man you ogled,” he teased and Skye jumped into the conversation.

“Oh my God he’s _married to Phil_ ,” she stressed and both of the teenagers turned to Clint with shocked and awestruck looks on their face.

May just glanced at her closely. “You’ve called him ‘Phil’ three times now. Something changed,” she said in an almost worried tone.

Clint winced dramatically. “Yeah… I kinda let it slip,” he said to Melinda and the shrugged. “Sorry.”

May’s eyes widened slightly and she gritted her teeth. “Barton, she wasn’t ever supposed to know about us!”

“Whoa, _Us ___?!” Skye looked at May in panic. “Whoa, tell me you’re not my mother,” she said and May rolled her eyes.

“No I’m not your mother, dumbass-“

“Hey, you said ‘us’-“

Ward blinked. “Wait, what are we talking about-“

“Wait, what’s this about-“

“NO BLOODY WAY-“

Clint whistled, stopping the talking over everybody. “Guys!” he barked and they all stopped. “This is Skye’s business,” he said and tuned to May. “Skye deserved to know. Phil deserves to have her in the know. He didn’t even know until Skye started looking into her parents and explained the link to SHIELD.”

Skye looked at FitsSimmons and Ward’s curious looks and swallowed hard. “Coulson… he’s my father,” she said softly and Clint nodded in confirmation.

May sighed. “It was better with you not knowing-“

“Not knowing that the man I’ve been working with for months now is my _father_ when I got involved with SHIELD in the first place to try and find my parents?” she asked sharply.

“It’s bad enough Coulson knows,” May argued. “He gives you too many chances and forgives too easily because he found out you’re his daughter. Any other Agent would’ve handed you over to SHIELD by now-“

Clint raised a hand. “Hey, I’ve got away with the crap I’ve always got away with for way longer than I’ve been involved with him.”

Ward raised an eyebrow. “You have the worst record for insubordination in SHIELD.”

Clint smirked. “That’s from other handlers taking me. Phil found all my smartass remarks funny and just gave as good as he got. Same stuff others wrote me up for, Phil laughed at. I got away with tons of stuff a loooong time before we got involved.”

Fitz raised an eyebrow. “How long ago was that, then?” he asked curiously.

Clint nodded to May. “Mine and Melinda’s field days overlapped. She and Phil were partners before I joined SHIELD and Phil got promoted a couple years before SHIELD brought me in and then I worked with Melinda some when I was a newbie before she got promoted to admin. Then I was passed around a lot before I brought in my partner and Phil became our permanent handler for years. He got a promotion and we got various handlers over time, but his promotion was also the point where he didn’t think it was abuse of his power to ask me out. We got married about four years ago.”

“How is Coulson Skye’s father?” Ward asked. “If he’s gay, how did that happen?”

“He wasn’t always,” Clint said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t know about that though. Skye was before my time. I’d have been a teenager when she was born. I wasn’t brought into SHIELD until I was twenty-seven. “

Simmons eyed him closely. “How old do you think Skye is?” she asked and Skye nodded.

“Yeah, I’m twenty-four,” she offered and Clint nodded.

“Yeah, I know, and twenty-four years ago, I’d have been about eighteen. Phil was twenty-four when you were born so he’d only been in SHIELD for two years,” he explained. “I don’t know anything about your mother, though. I just know from my hacker friend that Phil discovered you’re his daughter and I only found that out three weeks ago.”

May shook her head. “Phil didn’t know about her either. I don’t know the whole story but we found out that her mother was taken out and a SHIELD agent took her to the orphanage afterwards. As far as I know, Phil wasn’t in any sort of relationship with her mother, so either she was an Agent or a mark. He won’t say which, just that he didn’t think twice about not seeing her again until Skye found information about her birth being related to SHIELD.”

Fitz hummed. “That’s all very interesting, but I’m stuck on you being, according to my math, _forty-two_ ,” he stressed. “You do not look that old.”

Clint shrugged. “May’s fifty-“

“Holy- are you seriously?!” Simmons asked in surprise. “Goodness, I knew Coulson was old-“ May glared and she chuckled nervously. “Older than most of us,” she amended quickly. “But you look nowhere near it.”

Ward cleared his throat awkwardly. “You’re seriously fifty-“

“Yes,” May said blandly. “Problem?”

“No, no, nothing wrong,” he said and glanced down. “My mother’s fifty-one, so… great age,” he said and May rolled her eyes.

Clint eyed Melinda closely and she glared. He smirked suddenly. “Why Melinda May-“

“Don’t make me murder you,” she said flatly and he mimed zipping his lips.

“Whoa,” Fitz said suddenly. “Skye, your stepdad, is _an Avenger_ ,” he said and Skye smiled uneasily.

“Yeah, neat,” she said and turned to Clint. “How angry is Coulson going to be you told me? I mean… I’m not supposed to know, right? Is this going to mean I have to go?” she asked nervously.

Clint started to speak but May cut him off. “He was close to caving anyways,” she said simply. “It may mean you have to go, and I am sorry about that, but Coulson was having trouble not treating you differently and not telling you the truth. He didn’t want to hurt you by telling you about your mother, but he has been treating you like his child instead of his asset for a while now.”

Clint nodded. “You get away with a lot,” he said simply. “I did, too, so it’s more Phil than you being his daughter, but any other boss would’ve had you arrested long ago. Phil’s just always been rebellious. He likes the ones with that side to them.” He patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, if you have to leave this team, I know another small special division on the edges of SHIELD that can use a consultant,” he said and she gave him a tentative smile. 

“Would SHIELD let me? I mean… aren’t they gonna lock me for all the stuff I did illegal today? I mean I’ll break out, but still, they’ve gotta try, right?” she asked.

Clint gave her a flat look. “Do you think Phil Coulson would let them arrest someone from his team who was trying to save him? Phil is a personal friend of Director Fury and his husband is the level six that can shake every single person at SHIELD besides Phil Coulson. They’re not dumb enough to try and arrest you”

She gave him a worried look. “That’s assuming he’s okay, though.”

Clint shrugged. “You think I’d let them take you after you helped me stage an illegal rescue mission?” he asked flatly. “Kid, you may not know me well, but I know how good you are and how much you have done for your team. You remind me a lot of myself, only way smarter. Besides, you know, technically my stepdaughter so there’s that part, but that’s still kinda weird to me,” he added.

Skye eyed him and nodded with a cringe. “Yeah, it’s totally weird. Cool! I mean, oh my God, I have a _stepdad_ , but… don’t expect me to call you ‘dad’ or anything,” she said and Clint made a horrified face.

“Oh wow, yeah _no_ ,” he stressed and she nodded vigorously.

“Way too weird.”

“Totally.”

~

When Coulson came back from debrief and stopped in front of the group, Skye was the first to move. She took the few steps to close the gap and surprised them all by wrapping her arms around Coulson’s middle and hugging him close. He hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around her back to return the hug. “I swear, this is because you’re Agent Coulson, Badass Extraordinaire and you’re okay, not cause you’re my dad,” she babbled and Phil looked up quickly, eyeing Melinda closely. Clint wiggled his fingers awkwardly.

“Sorry Boss Man, that was me,” he confessed and Coulson stilled slightly.

“How did you-“

“Same way I knew you were alive,” Clint said softly as he smiled at Skye still clinging to him. “Letting it slip was my own ‘dumbassery’,” he added.

Phil chuckled. “Natasha?” he asked and Clint smirked.

“Pepper Potts, actually,” he said and Phil’s smile lit up.

“I told you she’s amazing, didn’t I?” he said just before Skye jerked around.

“Holy crap, you know Pepper Potts?! She’s like one of the most awesome and powerful women in the world! She’s a total business genius, like… holy crap Pepper freaking Potts gave you an insult, that’s so much cooler than the superhero thing, Clint,” she said and Clint smirked.

“You should hear the things she says about my friends then,” he said with a wink. He walked over and nudged her out of the way. “Alright, my turn,” he teased her, though his eyes turned more serious when he didn’t even speak before sliding his hands into Phil’s hair and pulling him into a kiss.

To his credit, for someone who had forgot about Clint until less than twelve hours before, Phil just rolled with it, resting his hands on the middle of Clint’s back as he kissed back without missing a beat. Clint let out a pained sound as the kiss tapered off and he pressed his forehead to Phil’s. Phil stroked his sides soothingly. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all this, Clint.”

Clint shook his head, smiling as he stroked at Phil’s neck. “I don’t care how bad it hurt because I’ve got you back now and I’d like to fucking see somebody try and take you away again,” he muttered softly, smiling when he looked into Phil’s eyes. “Even with the bumps and bruises, Boss, you’re still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he added and Phil’s smile grew wider.

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Clint,” he said with a small chuckle and Clint winked. “Although you have a lot to answer for in the whole ‘outed me as Skye’s father’ thing when she wasn’t supposed to know.”

Clint shrugged. “She made a comment about me having a great ass and it made me go ‘ewwww I’m technically your stepdad, that’s gross’ and then realized ‘oh shit, I told her I needed help finding my husband first’ but by then it was too late.”

“Yeah, by the way, totally don’t think your ass is hot anymore after finding out you’re so old,” Skye said and Clint turned to wink at her, sliding his arms around Phil’s neck to hug him close.

“Totally not a problem, Kid, I prefer badass, handsome older guys with a fashion fetish to young, smart girls anyhow, even if you weren’t my stepdaughter,” he said, saluting her with the arm not around Phil’s neck. 

Phil met her eyes and gave her and apologetic smile. “It was too dangerous to tell you, Skye. I didn’t know I had a daughter and I didn’t know you were my daughter until after I started looking into your information from SHIELD.”

Skye smiled nervously. “The craziest part is that I’ve wished for a long time now that, if I had a dad, he was as cool as you are, A. C.”

He chuckled. “Not disappointed?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.

“Are you kidding me? I have answers now. That’s what I wanted all along. I already really liked you and respected you as a generally awesome person so nothing really changes there other than wondering if there’s anything similar between us that genetics could explain,” she said with a shrug. 

Fitz cleared his throat. “About that, you both a hypersensitivity to the OR6A2 gene-“

Simmons sighed and interrupted him. “You both have the genetic factor that makes cilantro taste soapy,” she said and Clint grinned.

“Yep! Phil hates the stuff. Getting Mexican food with Phil is a bitch,” he said and Phil and Skye exchanged tentative smiles.

“Well… that’s pretty cool,” Skye said and Phil nodded.

“Very interesting,” he agreed. 

Clint cooed. “Awww, adorable awkward moment!” he joked and Phil sighed, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, there’s my sassy ‘why do I love you?’ eye roll,” he teased, pecking Phil’s cheek. 

May cleared her throat. “Very odd family moment aside, we have to take off. Are we dropping you somewhere, Barton, or are you getting off here?”

He shrugged, turning to face her, hands in his pockets. “If you’re heading to the east coast, you can drop me off in New York, but if not, I can just make a call and get a jet out here to get me in a few hours.”

Ward looked at him closely. “You don’t have to debrief?” he asked and Clint smirked.

“Perk of being a superhero is you get out of a lot of that stuff. I mean, Nick _likes it_ when I debrief but fuck Nick right now after whatever that bastard did to my husband,” he said simply. “Fair warning, though, Boss, prepare for Natasha to show up and kick your ass pretty soon now that she knows you’re aware we know you’re alive,” he said to Phil, and Phil smiled.

“How about you let us fly you back and we can call her?” he suggested and Clint nodded with a soft smile.

“Sounds good, Sir,” he said simply.

Skye made a face. “Ew, ‘Sir’ and ‘Boss’ is a _thing_ isn’t it?” she asked, miming gagging.

Clint just smirked and winked. “You bet,” he said lecherously, earning an exasperated sigh from Phil and suddenly everyone had excuses for where they needed to be.

“I’m going to have nightmares,” Fitz muttered as he and Simmons walked off, and Simmons just patted his back comfortingly. Clint just turned and winked at Phil, who shook his head with a soft chuckle.

“You’re so weird.”

“You love it,” Clint countered and Phil’s smile softened as he tugged at Clint’s hand, nodding.

“Yeah I really do,” he said softly, leaning in to peck Clint’s lips before pulling him towards the stairs.


End file.
